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Aaron Shurin
Aaron Shurin (born 1947) is an American poet, essayist, and academic.Aaron Shurin b. 1947, Poetry Foundation. Web, Nov. 27, 2015. Life Shurin earned an M.A. in poetics from New College of California, where he studied under poet Robert Duncan. He is the former Associate Director of the Poetry Center & American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University and the author of numerous books of poetry, including: Into Distances (1993), The Paradise of Forms: Selected Poems (1999),which was chosen as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 1999 A Door (2000), Involuntary Lyrics (2005), Citizen (2012); – includes four prose poems from Citizen: "Helios Cream", "My Democracy", "Bruja", and "Scout" and volumes of prose, including Unbound: A Book of AIDS (1997)a work which has been variously described as a "passionate, personal history of gay San Francisco in the late 1960s and how life in and out of the bars plotted a course to liberation before Stonewall". and King of Shadows (2008), a collection of essays. Aaron Shurin has taught extensively in the fields of American poetry and poetics, contemporary and classical prosody, improvisational techniques in composition, and the personal essay. Since 1999, he has co-directed the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco. According to his biography at the University of San Francisco, his own work is framed by the innovative traditions in lyric poetry as they extend the central purpose of the Romantic Imagination: to attend the world in its particularities, body and soul. Writing Shurin's poetics might be described as a poetics of the voice in the tradition of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and of those who followed. Writes Shurin: "An American inheritance might include Whitman's polyglot impetus toward people speaking in their own voices, bringing poetic diction down from England's on high and into the streets (but that's an impulse already at least as old as Dante.)... An American inheritance might include Dickinson's fierce commitment to individual volition and despair, to her reworking of traditional forms to accept interruption and levels of psychic intuition."from What is American About American Poetry? Following upon Whitman and Dickinson, Shurin acknowledges a multiplicity of influences on his sense of a poetics: Quotes Recognition Shurin is a recipient of California Arts Council Literary Fellowships in poetry (1989, 2002), and a NEA fellowship in creative nonfiction (1995). Publications Poetry *''Exorcism of the Straight / Man / Demon''. Boston: Good Gay Press, 1972? *''Woman on Fire''. San Francisco: Rose Deeprose Press, 1975. *''The Night Sun''. San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press, 1976. *''Toot Suite''. San Francisco: Rose Deeprose Press, 1978. *''Giving up the Ghost''. San Francisco: Rose Deeprose Press, 1980. *''The Graces''. San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1983. *''Elsewhere''. San Francisco: Acts Books, 1988. *''A's Dream''. Oakland, CA: O Books, 1989. *''Narrativity''. Los Angeles: 20 Pages, 1990. *''Into Distances''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1993. *''Codex''. Buffalo, NY: Meow Press, 1997. *''The Paradise of Forms: Selected poems''. Jersey City, NJ: Talisman House, 1999. *''A Door''. Jersey City, NJ: Talisman House, 2000. *''Involuntary Lyrics''. Richmond, CA: Omnidawn, 2005. *''Citizen''. San Francisco: City Lights, 2011. Non-fiction *''Homer's 'The Iliad' (study guide). Woodbury, NY: Barron's, 1984. *William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (study guide). Woodbury, NY: Barron's, 1985. *''Unbound: A book of AIDS (essays). Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1997. *''King of Shadows'' (essays). San Francisco: City Lights, 2008. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Aaron Shurin, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 26, 2015. See also * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *[http://www.lodestarquarterly.com/work/54/ Three Scenes from the Sauna at the YMCA] a prose poetry piece by Shurin (2002) at Lodestar Quarterly *[http://www.speakeasy.org/~subtext//poetry/shurin/poem1.htm Unbound: A book of AIDS] a selection from this book on-line *[http://www.epoetry.org/issues/spring01/text/cnotes/aas.html poems from Involuntary Lyrics] at Electronic Poetry Review ;Prose *[http://www.sfsu.edu/~poetry/narrativity/issue_two/shurin.html Narrativity] This essay was first delivered by Shruin as a talk at Painted Bride, Philadelphia, June 1989. *My Epic, Jacket ;Books *Aaron Shurin at Amazon ;Audio / video *Aaron Shurin reads "Gloria Mundi" (audio) *Aaron Shurin at YouTube ;About *Aaron Shurin, Faculty Profiles, University of San Francisco. *[http://home.jps.net/~nada/shurin.htm review of The Paradise of Forms: Selected Poems] Jeffrey Jullich on Aaron Shurin *[http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2005/11/very-first-page-is-so-strong-it-nearly.html "The very first page is so strong it nearly took my head off..."] Ron Silliman on Involuntary Lyrics *Interview with writer Aaron Shurin at Words with Writers, 2013 * – this page is a smörgåsbord of links to Shurin readings from his work, including an interview with Shurin by Stacey Lewis in mp3 format, along with capsule reviews and comments about Shurin's work Category:Living people Category:American poets Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:New College of California alumni Category:University of San Francisco faculty Category:LGBT writers from the United States Category:1947 births Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:20th-century poets Category:LGBT poets